Railway car



MarCh 1956 A. F. CHARLES ETAL 3,240,168

RAILWAY CAR 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed May 28, 1964 uvk INVENTORS. ASAFRANKLIN CHARLES JOHN TIERNEY BY W, I I

AGENT March 1966 A. F. CHARLES ETAL 3,240,163

RAILWAY CAR Filed May 28, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 \68 i as i,

I l l I r 1: {I II II II I! ll 1! 1| INVENTORS.

ASA FRANKLIN CHARLES JOHN TIERNEY AGENT United States Patent 3,240,168RAILWAY CAR Asa Franklin Charles, Bridgeton, MO., and John Tierne DeerPark, N.Y., assignors to ACE Industries, Incorporated, New York, N.Y., acorporation of New Jersey Filed May 28, 1964, Ser. No. 371,622 4 Claims.(ill. 195-406) This invention relates to railway cars and moreparticularly to a railway car of the open gondola type in which ladingis loaded and unloaded from the open top.

Gondola cars are normally employed to carry bulky materials, such ascoal, sand, gravel, steel structures and the like. Such gondola carsusually have a continuous center sill structure extending the length ofthe car which limits the capacity of the car and produces a relativelyhigh center of gravity in the loaded car as well as increasing theweight of the car.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an open gondola typerailway car which does not employ a continuous center sill structureextending the length of the car and has a minimum height center ofgravity for the loaded car.

An additional object of this invention is the provision of such arailway car which has a relatively smooth unobstructed interior and isparticularly adapted for rotary unloading with a highly effectivecleanout of the car.

A further object of this invention is the provision of a gondola typerailway car having a maximum volume or capacity within minimum height,length and weight ranges.

Briefly described, the gondola type railway car of the present inventioncomprises connected sides and ends with an open top, an end stub centersill structure at each end of the car over an associated wheel assembly,and a dropped center portion between the stub center sill structures,the sides extending downwardly between the end center sill structuresand joining a bottom at arcuate junctures to form a pocket between thewheel assemblies with a smooth interior surface thereby to obtain amaximum cleanout upon unloading.

The invention accordingly comprises the constructions hereinafterdescribed, the scope of the invention being indicated in the followingclaims.

In the accompanying drawings, in which one of various possibleembodiments of the invention is illustrated,

FIGURE 1 is a perspective of the railway car of the present inventionillustrating a gondola car having a dropped intermediate portion betweenthe wheel assemblies;

FIGURE 2 is a partial top plan of the railway car illustrated in FIGURE1;

FIGURE 3 is a partial side elevation of the railway car of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 4 is an end elevation of the car illustrated in FIGURES 1-3;

FIGURE 5 is a section taken generally along line 5-5' of FIGURE 3;

FIGURE 6 is an enlarged fragment of FIGURE 5; and

FIGURE 7 is a section taken generally along line 7-7 of FIGURE 3.

Corresponding reference characters indicate corresponding partsthroughout the several views of the drawings.

Referring to the drawings, the gondola type railway car is generallydesignated 10 and includes sides 12 and 14. Connecting sides 12 and 14are ends generally designated 16. Adjacent each end 16 is a truckassembly generally designated 20. An end stub center sill 22 beinggenerally hat-shaped is arranged over each wheel assembly 20. Thetransverse centerline of car 10 is indicated by line A in FIGURES 2 and3.

3,24%,168 Patented Mar. 15, 1966 Referring to FIGURES 3 and 4, a bolsterstructure includes a bottom plate 24 and a center plate 26. A bolsterweb 28 is secured between bottom plate 24 and a shear plate 30 whichextends over the adjacent end stub center sill 22. Shear plate 30 formsthe upper cover plate for the bolster structure. Extendinglongitudinally along each side of car 10 for the entire length thereofis a side sill 32 of channel-shape. An end sill 33 at each end of car 10is welded to side sills 32. Shear plate 30 extends between and issecured such as by welding to side sills 32 at each end of car 10.

Extending between each pair of corner posts 34 is a vertical end sheet36. An end slope sheet 38 extends downwardly from end sheet 36. Avertical stiffener 46 extends transversely of the car and is welded toshear plate 30 and end slope sheet 33 at each end of car 10. Verticalstifieners 41 extend longitudinally of the car and are welded to shearplate 30 and end slope sheet 38 at each end of car 10, to support slopesheet 38.

Referring to FIGURES 3, 6 and 7, vertical side posts 42 of channel-shapeare spaced along each side of car 10 and are welded to the adjacent sidesill 32. Side sheets 44 are welded to posts 42 to form sides 12 and 14.A lower marginal portion of each sheet 44 is outturned at 43 and issecured such as by welding, to the upper surface of the subjacent sidesill 32. An upper marginal portion of each sheet 44 is outturned at 46and a channel-shaped member 48 is secured thereto with the top side ofthe channel-shaped member 48 welded to the upper surface of marginalportion 46 of each sheet 44 and the edge of the bottom leg of member 48butt welded to the outer surface of sheet 44 as illustrated in FIGURE 6to form a box-shaped upper side chord generally designated 49. An upperend chord designated 50 at each end of car Iii is secured to upper sidechords 4% as shown in FIGURE 3.

Car 10 is particularly adapted for rotary unloading and a suitablerotary coupler C may be received within each end stub center sill 22,such as, for example, a rotary coupler of the type disclosed in US.Patent No. 2,990,962, dated July 4, 1961. It is to be understood thatconventional non-rotary couplers may also be employed satisfactorily.

Secured at the lower end of each end slope sheet 38 is a support channel52 illustrated in FIGURE 3. Slope sheet 38 is secured, such as bywelding, to channel 52. A lower end plate 54 has an upper outturned leg56 welded to support channel 52 to form a continuation of slope sheet 38and extends downwardly adjacent the innot end of the adjacent end stubcenter sill 22. Extending downwardly from each side sill 32 is atrough-shaped plate generally designated 58 and forming a pocket betweenwheel assemblies 20. Plate 58 may be formed of a plurality of sectionswelded together and is secured to end plates 54. An upper generallyvertical end portion 60 on each side of plate 58 is secured, such as bywelding, to the adjacent side sill 32 and side sheet 44 as illustratedin FIGURE 6.

Arcuate corner portions 62 of a generally uniform radius integrallyconnect upper end portion 60 with horizontal portion 64 as shown inFIGURES 4 and 5. Transverse stiffeners or straps of a channel-shape arespaced longitudinally along the length of plate 58 and follow the outersurface of plate 58 between side sills 32. Stitfeners 66 are secured,such as by welding, to side sills 32 and to plate 58. To reinforce upperside chords 49 against flexure, suitable cross members 68 extend betweenthe side chords 49. Sides 12 and 14 are also reinforced against flexureby cross members 68. Cross members 76 extend between side sills 32 andopposite sides of plate 58 as shown in FIGURES 3 and 5. i

Car is especially adapted for fitting within a rotary car dumper such ascommonly installed at port facilities and the like for unloading. Thedimensions of car 10 for fitting within the rotary dumper comprise alength of 45 feet, a height measured from the rails of 12 /2 feet,

and a total width of 10 feet, four inches. Car 10 is adapted to carry100 tons of lading, such as coal. The car has a capacity or volume of3,890 cubic feet. The

arrangement of the dropped intermediate portion to form a pocket in thespace normally taken by a center sill structure permits a high capacitycar. Arcuate portions 62 eliminate sharp angles in the interior of thecar thereby to minimize adhering of lading upon unloading. Thus, ahighly effective cleanout is attained upon rotary unloading.

In view of the above, it will be seen that the several objects of theinvention are achieved and other advantageous results attained.

As various changes could be made in the above constructions withoutdeparting from the scope of the invention, it is intended that allmatter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanyingdrawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limitingsense.

What is claimed is:

1. A railway car of the gondola type comprising a pair of generallyvertically extending spaced sides and a pair of generally verticallyextending spaced ends connecting the sides, a truck assembly adjacenteach end of the car, and end stub center sill structure over each of thetruck assemblies, a channel-shaped side sill extending longitudinallyalong each side of the car and having inwardly extending horizontallegs, each of the sides comprising a side sheet having a lower outturnedmarginal portion supported on and secured to the upper leg of thesubjacent side sill, a generally trough-shaped bottom structurepositioned between the end center sill to a position extendingdownwardly from the side sills to a position at a level below the levelof the adjacent stub center sills to form a pocket interiorly of the carbeneath the end center sill structures, said trough-shaped bottomstructure comprising a generally U-shaped plate extending between andsecured to the adjacent side sills against the legs of each sill toprovide a box-shaped structure therewith, a plurality of generallyU-shaped transverse stiffeners spaced along the length of thetrough-shaped plate and secured to the plate and the lower leg of eachadjacent spaced side sill thereby to reinforce the bottom structure,said bottom structure forming a relatively smooth continuation of thevertical sides with the interior of the railway car being generallyunobstructed, and a plurality of generally vertical side posts spacedalong the length of each side sheet and secured thereto over the upperleg of the subjacent side sill.

2. A railway car of the gondola type as set forth in claim 1 wherein aplate extends generally horizontally over each center sill structure andoutwardly to a posi tion adjacent each of the side sills, an end slopesheet between each end of the car and the bottom structure over saidgenerally horizontal sheet to connect the associated vertical end andthe trough-shaped bottom structure, and a generally vertically extendingmember between each generally horizontal extending plate and thesuperjacent end slope sheet to reinforce the slope sheet.

3. A railway car of the gondola type as set forth in claim 1 whereineach side sheet has an upper outturned marginal portion, and a generallychannel-shaped member is secured along said upper outturned marginalportion to form a box-shaped upper chord extending longitudinally alongeach upper side edge of the car.

4. A railway car of the gondola type as set forth in claim 1 wherein anend slope sheet is secured between each end of the car and the adjacentdropped pocket formed between the truck assemblies, a plate extendsgenerally horizontally over each stub center sill structure between theside sills and beneath the superjacent end slope sheet, a channel-shapedreinforcing member closely adjacent each end of the trough-shaped bottomstructure having a web secured to the slope sheet and its legs securedbetween the adjacent plate and end slope sheet, and an end plate on eachend of the trough-shaped bottom structure having an upper outturned legsecured to the web of said channel-shaped reinforcing member to form acontinuation of said end slope sheet.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,124,980 1/1915Weaver -247 1,579,673 4/1926 Tench et al 105-406 1,605,635 11/1926Anderson 105247 1,880,629 10/1932 Wine 105-406 2,140,268 12/1938 Moss105-406 X 2,180,530 11/1939 Kassler et al 105253 2,473,946 6/1949Hammerstrom 105414 2,626,573 1/1953 Swann 105406 2,633,089 3/1953Flowers 105364 X 2,754,770 7/1956 Cooke 105406 2,865,309 12/1958 Lich105406 3,078,814 2/1963 Candlin et al 105-406 X ARTHUR L. LA POINT,Primary Examiner.

MILTON BUCHLER, Examiner.

1. A RAILWAY CAR OF THE GONDOLA TYPE COMPRISING A PAIR OF GENERALLYVERTICALLY EXTENDING SPACED SIDES AND A PAIR OF GENERALLY VERTICALLYEXTENDING SPACED ENDS CONNECTING THE SIDES, A TRUCK ASSEMBLY ADJACENTEACH END OF THE CAR, AND END STUB CENTER SILL STRUCTURE OVER EACH OF THETRUCK ASSEMBLIES, A CHANNEL-SHAPED SIDE SILL EXTENDING LONGITUDINALLYALONG EACH SIDE OF THE CAR AND HAVING INWARDLY EXTENDING HORIZONTALLEGS, EACH OF THE SIDES COMPRISING A SIDE SHEET HAVING A LOWER OUTTURNEDMARGINAL PORTION SUPPORTED ON AND SECURED TO THE UPPER LEG OF THESUBJACENT SIDE SILL, A GENERALLY TROUGH-SHAPED BOTTOM STRUCTUREPOSITIONED BETWEEN THE END CENTER SILL TO A POSITIOIN EXTENDINGDOWNWARDLY FROM THE SIDE SILLS TO A POSITION AT A LEVEL BELOW THE LEVELOF THE ADJACENT STUB CENTER SILLS TO FORM A POCKET INTERIORLY OF THE CARBENEATH THE END CENTER SILL STRUCTURES, SAID TROUGH-SHAPED BOTTOMSTRUCTURE COMPRISING A GENERALLY U-SHAPED ECTENDING BETWEEN AND SECUREDTO THE ADJACENT SIDE SILLS AGAINST THE LEGS OF EACH SILL TO PROVIDE ABOX-SHAPED STRUCTURE THEREWITH, A PLURALITY OF GENERALLY U-SHAPEDTRANSVERSE STIFFENERS SPACED ALONG THE LENGTH OF THE TROUGH-SHAPED PLATEAND SECURED TO THE PLATE AND THE LOWER LEG OF EACH ADJACENT SPACED SIDESILL THEREBY TO REINFORCE THE BOTTOM STRUCTURE, SAID BOTTOM STRUCTUREFORMING A RELATIVELY SMOOTH CONTINUATION OF THE VERTICAL SIDES WITH THEINTERIOR OF THE RAILWAY CAR BEING GENERALLY UNOBSTRUCTED, AND APLURALITY OF GENERALLY VERTICAL SIDE POSTS SPACED ALONG THE LENGTH OFEACH SIDE SHEET AND SECURED THERETO OVER THE UPPER LEG OF THE SUBJACENTSIDE SILL.